Constitution of the Republic of Singapore · 2020 Revised Edition · Part 6 · The Legislature
39A. Group representation constituencies
Feedback & supportThe Legislature may, in order to ensure the representation in Parliament of Members from the Malay, Indian and other minority communities, by law make provision for —
any constituency to be declared by the President, having regard to the number of electors in that constituency, as a group representation constituency to enable any election in that constituency to be held on a basis of a group of not less than 3 but not more than 6 candidates; and
the qualifications, in addition to those in Article 44, of persons who may be eligible for any election in group representation constituencies, including the requirements referred to in clause (2).
Any law made under clause (1) shall provide for —
law
“law” includes written law and any legislation of the United Kingdom or other enactment or instrument whatsoever which is in operation in Singapore and the common law in so far as it is in operation in Singapore and any custom or usage having the force of law in Singapore;
the President to designate every group representation constituency —
as a constituency where at least one of the candidates in every group shall be a person belonging to the Malay community; or
as a constituency where at least one of the candidates in every group shall be a person belonging to the Indian or other minority communities;
the establishment of —
a committee to determine whether a person desiring to be a candidate belongs to the Malay community; and
a committee to determine whether a person desiring to be a candidate belongs to the Indian or other minority communities,for the purpose of any election in group representation constituencies;
all the candidates in every group to be either members of the same political party standing for election for that political party or independent candidates standing as a group;
the minimum and maximum number of Members to be returned by all group representation constituencies at a general election; and
the number of group representation constituencies to be designated under paragraph (a)(i).
No provision of any law made pursuant to this Article shall be invalid on the ground of inconsistency with Article 12 or be considered to be a differentiating measure under Article 78.
differentiating measure
“differentiating measure” means any measure which is, or is likely in its practical application to be, disadvantageous to persons of any racial or religious community and not equally disadvantageous to persons of other such communities, either directly by prejudicing persons of that community or indirectly by giving advantage to persons of another community;
In this Article —
“election” means an election for the purpose of electing a Member of Parliament;
member
“member” means a member of the Council and includes the Chairman and any alternate member appointed under Article 37C.
“group” means a group of not less than 3 but not more than 6 candidates nominated for any election in any group representation constituency;
“person belonging to the Malay community” means any person, whether of the Malay race or otherwise, who considers himself to be a member of the Malay community and who is generally accepted as a member of the Malay community by that community;
“person belonging to the Indian or other minority communities” means any person of Indian origin who considers himself to be a member of the Indian community and who is generally accepted as a member of the Indian community by that community, or any person who belongs to any minority community other than the Malay or Indian community.